'Stop a Douchebag' - How Russia solves the pedestrian problem

[spuwho]

With the astronomical growth of Russia, terrible traffic jams in and out of Moscow are becoming the norm.  Because of it, everyday Muscovites have been taking to driving the sidewalks to avoid traffic, but at a cost. Pedestrian safety has been lost and many people (including mothers with kids) were getting seriously hurt by these sidewalk "douchebags".

A group of well mannered Russian youth have banded together to form the "Stop a Douchebag" movement to help dissuade people from driving in pedestrian areas and harming people.  If you refuse to cooperate they stick a non-removable (or very difficult) sticker to your windshield that simply says in Russian, "I am a douchebag, I drive where I please"



The reactions are mixed. Young people who have seen the videos get it right away and back up. Older people? Wow, they get testy.  But regardless of the nasty cursing they get, they maintain their demeanor and where necessary call the Moscow Traffic Police. They have been threatened with guns, wrestlers, fist fights, drunks, Chechens, you name it.

Lately they have been going after blocked bike lanes, illegally parked tow trucks and even Russian politicians double and triple parked in front of the Duma (Congress). You will be amazed at the total disregard people will have, including diplomats on what they are doing with their cars.

Below is a typical adventure.  The rest I will leave to you.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrKscEv_Ri1pvlRsLxsqJQ


https://www.youtube.com/v/BHJxIwvFIGY

[coredumped]

Been watching these guys for a while, great stuff. Sadly, the fee most of these people pay only comes out to about $20.

[I-10east]

Apparently Russia has never heard of poles (in the form of a barricade to keep cars off paths). In heavy traffic situations like that, there's gonna be someone that's always willing to take the path of least resistance. Pretty entertaining when those stickers are dispatched though.

[Adam White]

Apparently Russia has never heard of poles (in the form of a barricade to keep cars off paths). In heavy traffic situations like that, there's gonna be someone that's always willing to take the path of least resistance. Pretty entertaining when those stickers are dispatched though.

^bollards.

[spuwho]

Apparently Russia has never heard of poles (in the form of a barricade to keep cars off paths). In heavy traffic situations like that, there's gonna be someone that's always willing to take the path of least resistance. Pretty entertaining when those stickers are dispatched though.

I-10 East,

Check some of the other videos where restaurant managers and office buildings were blocking off entire streets to use as "private parking".

They set up these personal "bollards" to keep out people, it hilarious how they all back down when confronted with the illegal grab.

[finehoe]

With the astronomical growth of Russia...

Say what?

[I-10east]

Thanks yall, 'bollards'. It's in my vocab now.

[spuwho]

With the astronomical growth of Russia...

Say what?

Only Finehoe would pull out a stat to counter a post highlighting videos showing pedestrian safety in Russia. 

The "astronomical" growth is relative to the Soviet era.  While I didn't detail it out because it was kind of superfluous to the point of the posting, everyone has cars (that aren't Lada's) now. The roads are better than the Soviet era, but haven't grown nearly as quickly as car ownership has.  So to see common Russians being pulled over in their Bimmers, Land Rovers, & Merc's is a large contrast to the 1980's or even early 90's.  Because of the growth they have these massive traffic jams throughout Moscow during the week.

Does that help?  I mean, I do aim to please.....I can go fetch a graph or two on the change in private car ownership in Russia since Yeltsin if you think that might help.   

[BridgeTroll]

With the astronomical growth of Russia...

Say what?

Rofl... 

[finehoe]

Only Finehoe would pull out a stat to counter a post highlighting videos showing pedestrian safety in Russia. 

It's just that when the very first line in a piece is demonstrably untrue, it calls in to question the veracity of what follows.  That is all.

[InnerCityPressure]

You are so right, finehoe.  Your graph disproves the general statement, but people are still driving on the sidewalks and dudes are still putting stickers on their cars, so...

[Jason]

Those stickers are huge!  Before I watched the video I was picturing something more akin to a bumper sticker.  AWESOME!!

[spuwho]

Now they have repeat offenders. What is funny is the Moscow Traffic Police will waive you over if you have the stickers on your windshield no matter if they saw the offense or not.  It still makes me laugh.

Here is the latest one. The guy went after them with a bat.

https://www.youtube.com/v/MeKFY1gF0uc

[mbwright]

seems like mostly rich folks thinking they can get away with anything.  Yes, they should put in some of the big yellow steel posts, like they do elsewhere.

[spuwho]

It appears the "Douchebag" movement has hit a raw nerve in some quarters of the populace.

It was all over the news across Russia yesterday that the "Stop the Douchebag" movement had been banned by the government, which actually wasn't the case.

Someone with a grudge actually went to court to get their business permit revoked (it allows them to buy and distribute the stickers) and was successful. But the news releases sent out to the Russian media (in a bid to discredit them) said that they had been banned.  Now when they operate, people curse them out as illegal.

This Facebook message went out from the founder saying exactly what happened.

Liquidated?

Summary of the interview given by the movement's founder, Dmitry Chugunov, to the newspaper "Lenta.Ru":

So the organization has been liquidated?
- Not the organization, they terminated the legal entity that we created for technical purposes. Since 2010 through 2013 we also operated without a legal entity. The organization is fine. No one can prohibit thousands of volunteers in different cities and countries from doing civil activism that doesn't violate the law.
-Did you cross someone's path?
- In 6 years we have crossed a lot of people. There are no untouchables for us, as can be seen from our videos.
-But this is a job for the police, isn't it?
- Absolutely. I agree 100%
-Don't you think that your actions discredit them?
- In fact, I do. Because they need to realize, that the executive authorities must be functioning, the police can't be a "monument to themselves", and any public organization that is fighting for the observance of rights and order is society's allergic reaction to the failure of some state institutions to fulfill their duties.
-Do you think that counter aggression is an acceptable measure in the fight against rudeness?
- We are against aggression. We always try to mitigate it on our raids. But we take the violators out of their comfort zone, so anything can happen.
-But you often get into fights...
- Not at all. This is just how we edit our videos. A "raid" can take up to 6 hours, and you would have to rewind all the time just to hear one dialogue. We edit in funny and stupid moments, and blatant violations of law. By the way, if we examine the dynamics over the past 6 years, rudeness has decreased significantly, I hope partly because of our work too.
After that, they talk about the response of various members of the Russian establishment to the court ruling.